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Philippines is an old English name of the country. It was a Spanish colony, the Spanish name for the country is Islas Filipinas. Then the people of the Philippines decided to choose a new language to become the national language. They chose a language called Tagalog. Tagalog called the Philippines the same way as Spahish.

Subsequently they decided to rename Tagalog to Filipino to highlight its role as a national language. And English just borrowed the name.

As someone who practiced the martial art kali in high school, and learned a very small amount of Tagalog, a fair few words are from Spanish, and there's even some English mixed in. Their culture is actually a very interesting mix of influences due to the long colonial history.

Ex: Kali, also known as eskrima (Spanish esgrima), is a mix of traditional martial art and Spanish fencing.

Spanish esgrima? Is this any different from tradional Filipino Arnis? I was briefly introduced to it during my college years but I don't recall that it had any spanish roots. Our trainer always prided it being an ancient form of Malay fencing that evolved to what it is to-day.

Esgrima is Spanish for fencing, that's all. I believe Arnis is from a Spanish root word as well. They do have a lot to do with traditional sword fighting, but there's a definite European flavor as well.

In fact, I was taught that early forms would have used swords, the whole stick fighting thing is from the Spanish occupation period as well, as the natives were generally not allowed to be armed.

I had a quick look on wiki. It is actually up in the air who started what. Most terms are in spanish and some facts are just simply lost in history. Some say it came from the indonesians, malays, and you say it has a mix of european elements. Well, we got the best of both worlds I suppose. :D

Kumusta ka?
Mabuti? Yan!!
I spent about 8 years of my life training in Arnis. Fought in the WEKAF championships. Met LOTS of folks from the Philippines.
My opinion is that Arnis (and Kali, and Escrima) are considered uniquely part of their culture, due to it's deep roots dating back to when they fought the spanish. They used this fighting style against the invaders, and were feared for how effective they were in close combat.
Spain had superior numbers and weapons, and so they won. One of the first things the spanish did was ban the practice (which is true recognition for how deadly it is).

The art was practiced in secret, and also as part of traditional dances to keep the basic forms alive and part of their heritage.
Today, there are many variations that have incorporated moves and philosophies from different martial arts, but the underlying art is unquestionably from the people of the Philippines.

Little fun fact: "Tagalog" is derived from the Tagalog word "Taga-ilog", which means "from the river". The hyphen indicates a glottal stop between a and i, and the Spanish most likely didn't bother pronouncing it, so it ended up being called "Tagalog".

Spain called our archipelago "Las Islas Filipinas" which means "The Philippine Islands" in English. This is in honor of the heir apparent that time, and later the Spanish King, Filipe II or Philipp II.

The native people of our nation were collectively called as "Indios" ("Indians" in English) by the Spaniards. The word "Filipino" originally refered only to Spaniards born in Las Islas Filipinas, and like their Spaniard parents they exercised tremendous amount of freedom while living in our archipelago.

Indio revolutionaries would later claim the name "Filipino" for themselves because they saw the name as a symbol of freedom (Some of our school teachers though say "Indio" kinda sounds like "idiot". I dunno though if the revolutionaries held the same sentiment).

Now, "Filipino" is a valid demonym for the people of Las Islas Filipinas if we follow the demonym-forming rules of the Spanish language. (Btw, "Filipina" is feminine equivalent of "Filipino" in Spanish). In English, it's clear that the archipelago should take a name after the English name of Filipe II, which is Philipp II. That's the reason at least on why our archipelago now is more known as The Philippine Islands, or The Philippines, instead of Las Islas Filipinas.

By following the demonym-forming rules of the English language, the people of the Philippines should have been known as the "Philippinians", that the English translation of the Spanish word "Filipino" should have been "Philippinian". However, this didn't happen and I think the reason lies on what I said earlier: that our revolutionary forefathers believed that the demonym "Filipino" means freedom. Even after the US annexed our islands and made English the official language, our earliest nationalist politicians under the US colonial rule simply refused to have our people be called a demonym other than "Filipino".

"Filipino" became the standard demonym in English, borrowed directly from Spanish. "Philippines" became the name of our country in English. "Philippino" is simply wrong. In our domestic languages like Tagalog, we call our nation as "Pilipinas" and its people as "Pilipino". (Filipino organizations in the US seem to prefer the term "Pilipino" instead of "Filipino", that's comparable to Japanese companies which use "Nippon" in their names instead of "Japan").

We both use "Philippine" and "Filipino" as adjectives. In an English language college course I took, the professor differentiated when to use the two:

The "Philippine" adjective should only be used in things which can only be found within the borders of our nation, like Philippine beaches, Philippine government, and Philippine roads.

The "Filipino" adjective is a broader term, and should be used in things which can transcend the borders of our nation, like Filipino people, Filipino cuisine, and Filipino culture.

The Filipino language ("Wikang Filipino"), on the other hand, is an attempt by the Philippine government to create an artificial unifying language for the nation. It was initially based in the Tagalog language (which is the language of the original eight provinces which rebelled against Spain, and whose people dominated the political affairs of the Philippines under the American colonial rule).

The original intent was for the Filipino language to gradually incorporate words from other native languages of the Philippines, effectively becoming an acceptable lingua franca for all ethnicities. However, the Philippine government failed miserably in transforming the Filipino language. Just last year, our national language commission's head said in a TV interview that the Filpino language is still 95% Tagalog, a mere 5% difference in a span of eight decades since the Filipino language was legislated. So instead of classifying it as a lingua franca, most encyclopedic sources classify the Filipino language as a standardized form of the Tagalog language.

Also, the Filipino language ("Wikang Filipino") used to be called as Pilipino language ("Wikang Pilipino") from the 30s to 80s. Older Filipino expats there in the States remember it being called as Pilipino language and not Filipino language.

The wikipedia article pretty much explained it in detail. However I'm not really sure if there was a time these were considered as derogatory words.

Filipinos, especially those of the older generations, love to shorten names (not necessarily shorten, but to give a nickname) by just saying the first two or last two syllables of the name and then add a /y/ or /ng/ or a glottal stop.

Examples: Benigno > Ninoy, Benita > Bening, Ambrocio > Ambô.

Modern Examples: Macky > Makoy, April > Apeng, Shiela > Shè

It seems Pinoy and Pinay came similarly by shortening Pilipino and Pilipina.

If it was considered a derogatory term in past though, then I'd say Filipinos simply refused to acknowledge it is deregatory and chose to adopt the words.

This is similar to what the Filipino Muslims did. Spaniards called them Moro (literally, Moors) originally in a derogatory sense, but Filipino Muslims proudly call themselves as Moros today. Hell, they even named their new autonomous region Bangsamoro (Country of Moros).

The mountain peoples of Cordillera, on the other hand, were originally called as Igorot which means "mountain people". Here in the Philippines, calling a person "taong bundok" (man from a mountain) is derogatory. When the original Tagalog words which formed the term "Igorot" became archaic, the derogatory sense of Igorot was lost too. So today, the people there in the Cordillera mountains proudly call themselves Igorot despite the dark etymological past of that word.

Likewise, if Pinoy and Pinay were considered derogatory in the past, Filipinos simply adopted the words and chose to forget they're supposed to be deregatory. Who knows? Maybe they'll even adopt "flip" someday.

I remember hear that FLIP was once considered derogatory. It was coined by American soldiers during WWII and stood Fucking Little Island People or Funny Little Island People. And during the Philippine-American War, Gugus(pronounced googoos) was a racial term used for the Filipino guerillas.

It just means (Pinoy=Male Filipino; Pinay=Female Filipino). I suppose it depends on who you ask, some see the term as a way of 'cheapening' their filipino identity. Meanwhile, folks in the barrios and/or provinces have no problem with it. People just have a way of simplifying names and some of us just mislike hearing it as 'salitang-kalye' or 'street-talk'. There was even a national proclamation that discouraged the usage of 'Pinas' as a short version of calling the Philippines/Pilipinas.

Sometimes, even other nationalities mislike being called with the same 'simplification'.

But it is the most common dialect, which the vast majority of Filipinos can speak. Most Filipinos I know, and Rosetta Stone/other language software, refer to Tagalog as the national language, and other dialects as regional.

The original intent was for the Filipino language to gradually incorporate words from other native languages of the Philippines, effectively becoming an acceptable lingua franca for all ethnicities. However, the Philippine government failed miserably in transforming the Filipino language. Just last year, our national language commission's head said in a TV interview that the Filpino language is still 95% Tagalog, a mere 5% difference in a span of eight decades since the Filipino language was legislated.

Filipino is commonly used by foreigners to refer to the language used in general. "I speak Filipino" is more discernable than "I speak Tagalog" which can perhaps cause mute confusion for those who are unfamiliar with the term "Tagalog."

The archipelago was used to be called Las Islas Filipinas by the Spanish colonizers in honor of King Philip II. The name Philippines can be dated back to the Treaty of Paris, when Spain surrendered the sovereignity of the country to the US. Even before that, the Americans call the place The Philippine Islands.

During the Spanish colonization people don't have an official language. Because the country is an archipelago, different dialects exist among groups of islands: Tagalog in the Luzon region and Bisaya in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, to name a few.

Recognizing this, Pres. Manuel L. Quezon decided to just call it a day and set a national language. That's why he is known locally as ama ng wikang pambansa, which translates to "Father of the National Language". Because Tagalog is more common among the islands, add the fact that Manila, nation's capital, uses it in transactions, it has been set as the basis of the language.

Two decades later Tagalog was changed into Pilipino to differentiate it from the Tagalogs, an ethnic group present in Luzon.

Then in the 1973 Constitution (which is notably the constitution that paved the way to the dictatorship of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos), references to the national language was named as Filipino.

Spanish was the official language of the Philippines Islands since June 24th, 1571 year of the foundation of Manila and remained as such for more than 3 centuries, being Filipinos citizens of Spanish nationality at that time with full rights under the law of the King of Spain.
What is not easy to understand is that after that long presence, being educated in that language the founder fathers of the new state that surged after 1898 and considering the thousands of islands and hundreds of languages that compose Philippines, the Spanish is not used as lingua franca together with Tagalog and English in a world with is becoming more global at the contrary was removed as official language but is presence remains in many words of common use as Filipino is that define the official language of the country which now is Tagalog.

Being Filipino this confused the hell out of me growing up. Especially bc most Filipinos can't pronounce the consonant "F" -- they pronounce it as "P". I learned later about King Phillip and the Spanish colonization.

Not every country has a correlating language by name (aka. Japan --> Japanese, Russia --> Russian). For example, Filipino is the national language for the Philippines, as is Hindi for India and English for America. There is no language called "Indian" or "American".

Because the name of the country comes from latin "ph=f" for the Spanish King Philip, and that doesn't make any sense in any of the local languages. The locals decided it makes more sense for an F sound to be spelled with an F, and since it's their country they get to decide. They have chosen to go with "Filipino" for the language and culture, while sticking with the more historical "Philippines" for the name of the country.

It's like this, have you ever been unsure of the spelling of a word. 'Well it's either apple or appel I can't remember which so i'll just use it twice and use both spellings that way the person reading will assume the wrong one is just a typo.' Same thing happened with Filipino/Philippines someone was unsure if it were F or P and just went for the typo rule unfortunately at the time there wasn't a lot going on in the Philippines and the writers story was repeatedly referenced by others until it stuck.